Predator in the Ocean

Donohue, Patrick and Log, Destin. “Sharks 101.” State and Regional Newspaper, 7 September. 2006. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 28 May. 2016.

The Great White Shark is the top predator of the ocean, meaning that it is not hunted by other animals in the waters. The Great White has been listed as an endangered species due to the over hunting of them for shark teeth and there fins.

Firstly, if sharks numbers drastically decline then it will throw the food chain out of whack. Sharks eat the big fish, who in turn eat the smaller fish, which eat the smaller fish which eat the algae. If sharks were to become extinct then certain marine groups would overpopulate which would endanger a large number of other marine species making them either very rare or even extinct. “According to one study, without sharks the number of mid-level predators will increase many fold. These mid-level carnivores will eat most of the algae eaters. As a result, the seas will be choked with algae and its excretions. The water will become slimy. Sunlight penetration will be reduced. It will decrease coral reefs very soon. So, many thousands of dependent species will also go extinct.” (All Five Oceans, 2016) For example, do you like to eat shrimps, oysters or crabs? Because if shark culling continues then these species will become almost extinct. This is because sharks feed on rays who are the main feeders of these foods, if sharks become extinct then rays will overpopulate and with so many rays feeding on these foods then they will become rare and maybe even extinct.

II Over the years there has been a huge drop in the population of sharks, because of the popularity of Shark fin soup in china, and this can later on lead to the ocean ecosystem to be disrupted, if sharks are extinct.

Marine waters cover approximately four-fifths of the surface of the Earth. Such places are considered as an ecosystem because the plant life supports the animal life and vice versa. Marine ecosystems usually have quite a large biodiversity and are therefore thought to have a good resistance against invasive/introduced species. Sharks play a very important role in the oceans in a way that an average fish does not/can not. Sharks are at the top of the food chain and/or food web in virtually every single part of every ocean (Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern). Sharks keep the populations of other fish healthy and in proper proportion for the marine ecosystem; therefore if the shark population keeps decreasing there would be overpopulating species of fish and other food consumed by sharks. This could then lead on to cause many problems to the plant life as well, as some omnivorous animals may be forced to have a diet of strictly plants, which

Arising over 350 million years ago, the shark species has been labeled as a human devourer. Now, with the increase in human population, the demand for shark meat, fins, and cartilage are at an all time high; therefore, the existence of the shark is becoming a concern (Budker 1971). Individuals are conditioned to think of sharks as a negative aspect to the environment, which is prolonging the effort to save shark species from becoming extinct. With that in mind, some private as well as national organizations have accepted the challenge of educating and informing people about the existence of the shark specie and its importance to the sea.

The Shark’s place in the marine ecosystem is as a predator at the top of the food chain as there is no natural predator of sharks. Sharks are not very fastidious about what they eat but their diet generally consists of seal, crab, squid, lobster and fish. If sharks were to become extinct there would be an ecological cost. The marine life that is the shark’s food source would start to overpopulate with nothing to prey on it. One possible reason that sharks are coming closer to shores is that their natural food source is diminishing due to overfishing by humans. To stop sharks from being too near to popular swimming locations, fishermen need to expand or change their hunting areas.

Sharks are one of the oceans top predators. They vary in size from the extremely small dwarf shark, to the colossal whale shark. Sharks can be found all across the world’s oceans, from the tropic waters of Hawaii to the sub zero temperatures in the Artic oceans. Of the hundreds of sharks a select few species have actually been recorded in the Artic. Of these few, only three of them spend the majority of their time in these harsh, freezing waters. These sharks are the Greenland, Pacific Sleeper, and Salmon sharks.

However, most of these are not fatal, and new research finds that great whites, who are naturally curious, are "sample biting" then releasing their victims rather than preying on humans. “It's not a terribly comforting distinction, but it does indicate that humans are not actually on the great white's menu(E.O Wilson)”.Great whites are the largest fish and weighing up to 5,000 pounds have been recorded.Highly adapted predators, their mouths are lined with up to 300 serrated, sharp teeth arranged in several rows, and they have an exceptional sense of smell to detect prey. They even have organs that can sense the tiny electromagnetic fields produced by animals. They usually eat sea lions, seals, small toothed whales, and even sea turtles, and carrion.The original hypothesis for the great white's origins is that it shares a common gene with its ancestor with a prehistoric shark. The only predator that can kill a shark is a whale and sometimes whales aren't fast enough to catch the sharks most times.Most sharks live in depths of waters on 12 degrees to 24 degrees fahrenheit. Great white sharks have a great sense of touch through what’s called the lateral line.It is a line that extends along the middle of the shark’s body from its tail to its head. Found in all fish, it is made of cells that can

The cause of this debate comes with the return of White Sharks to the area. Over the past few years, there has been an increase of this apex predator to our coasts like never before seen, most notably since Labor Day weekend in 2009. Five sharks had been tagged by a marine biologist, Greg Skomal, and have been closely tracked and documented since. Skomal is a key player in this research as project leader

The Great White, up to 21 feet long with razor teeth may seem like a monster but there is much that society does not know. Sharks need to be protected because of the benefits they give humans. Also by tracking sharks is one way researchers can find a way to understand sharaks more.

Shark finning is popular in asia. They cut the fin off of the shark, and then throw the shark back in the water. Since sharks are being killed for just the fin, there are bans against finning. People also started just killing them after the movie Jaws came out(8). It pictured a Great White shark attacking people viciously. It upset people because it was based on a true story, but in the actual occurrence it was a bull shark that attacked the people not the Great White(8). There are many shark sanctuaries set up in the ocean to protect them. They can go there and live without having to worry if they will get caught in a net or get their fins cut off. In many countries there are bans on Great White Shark products. There are many projects in effect for protecting Great White Sharks(Institution, Smithsonian). Great white sharks are illegal to hunt because they are endangered. They also have a short life span of about sixty years, but very few make it to even thirty. There are many signs that say the great white population is increasing slowly but steadily(Institution,

Every Jaws fan knows the shark gets it in the end. What they do not know is that too many sharks have gotten it; and that has caused a rapid decline in the shark population over the past thirty years. Since the 1970's, sharks of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shores have declined eighty-five percent. Sharks are vital animal to our world's ecosystem, and if the decline is not controlled; we could be facing devastating problems in years to come. Information has been obtained from two books: The Shark Almanac by Thomas B. Allen and Sharks, An Introduction for the Amateur Naturalist by Sanford A. Moss. Sources also include a number of online references, among them BBC News, ENS News, The New York Times, and two online scientific

Sharks are one of the most feared carnivores in the sea. There are 365 species of of sharks in the sea as we know today. All sharks are carnivores. Most of them eat live fish, including other sharks. A shark's most common natural enemy is an another shark. Most sharks eat their prey whole, or they tear off large chunks of the bodies. Some sharks crush their prey. Others take out small pieces off flesh from large fish. Sharks also feed on dead or dying animals. Sharks have the reputation of attacking human beings. But less than 100 shark attacks a year are reported throughout the world. Sharks are most common in warm seas and oceans. Whale sharks, are the largest shark known to man. Sharks are classified in the order

One of the major problems is shark finning. Shark finning is the practice of removing the shark’s fins after it has been caught. They keep the fins and the body is usually thrown back into the sea, and usually the shark is still alive when this happens. When this is done sharks are not able to swim, and eventually the shark dies from suffocation, blood loss or being eaten another predator. The reason why the fins are kept are because shark fins are one of the most expensive food items in the world and can be worth more than over $400 per kilogram. One of the problems with finning and the selling shark fins is that it has caused a lot of declines in shark populations. Shark finning is unmonitored and unreported so the actual amount of finning is unknown. Finning is done at random and unbiased, they go after any species, sex or size of shark. Research has been done on some of the fins brought in by fisheries and it shows that even fins from great white sharks are appearing in shark fin